Hacksaw - S/T

Year: 1998

Label: The Great American Steak Religion

Tracks:

1. Kick It
2. I Lied To Myself

3. Without Living
4. A Million Times









This is the first Hacksaw record, and is substantially better than the rest of their stuff. This sounds a little less like boring stoner rock, and a little more like Fugazi. Over all, not a bad record, and worth picking up if you see it in a dollar bin and want to know what Jon Sharron (of Brutal Knights, Hassler, Chokehold, etc.) was doing circa 1998. My copy of this notes that it is #169/400 for a 1998 tour, but I don't know if this is a special tour edition of if all of them have hand-numbered dust sleeves, as 400 is a big old number of records to hand-number, especially for a band that was never too huge. It also has some picture pasted on the B-side label. I've tried to find info on this but have not been successful.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfRIKXWfmTA

Dirty Bird - S/T

Year: 1994

Label: Tamper Records

Tracks:

1. Ideology & Power
2. Barbie Doll
3. Alien

4. Big Idea
5. Word

In some bizarre turn of events, arguably the best 7” that came out of Toronto in the early 1990s was from one of the worst bands. I remember hearing Dirty Bird back when I was a young teen going to street punk shows at the Kathedral and not being able to listen to it because it was too pukey. This was at a time when I spent most of my time listening to Choking Victim. Needless to say, I didn’t expect much when I first picked up the Dirty Bird 7” and was astonished by what I was listening to. In their early incarnation, Dirty Bird didn’t sound like a drunk puke punk band a la washed out BFG at all, this 7” is great! The 7” has wild sound, like a more progressive sounding Minor Threat, but not in a stupid way. The lyrics are pretty politically charged like most early 90s hardcore bands, but done in a way that isn’t preachy or slogany but articulate and seemingly educated. I don’t know what happened to this band after this gem but their website proclaims they as “Canada’s Drunkest Hardcore Band” and is even more embarrassing than DRI’s Facebook page. This singer of this band, Uncle Anus, just passed away a while ago. R.I.P.

Crisis of Faith - Split w/ Chokehold

Year: 1992

Label: Grinding Edge

Tracks:

Crisis of Faith side:

1. Hardline

2. Ecological? Business (Lake)

Chokehold side:

3. One Scream

4. Second Hand Murder

5. Ignorance And Oppression

Probably the only reason Crisis of Faith is still known is because they did a split with arguably the best Canadian hardcore band of the 1990s. I’m not the biggest fan of Crisis of Faith, but Chokehold’s side of this split makes it legendary, and worth a pretty penny. Unfortunately, this time Hamilton wins. The art on this record is also pretty cool, as is these dudes’ utter hatred of hardline kids. Chokehold also has an Urban Blight-esque song about the dangers of second hand smoke, some 13 years before Slow Death. It’s also great how inventive Crisis of Faith is with their record speeds. The American Dream spun at 33 revolutions per minute while this split spins at 45 miles per hour.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMVM2dk_ndU

Blowhard - Harsh

Year: 1994

Label: Vital Communications

Tracks:

1. Justice For Whom?
2. Are You Listening?
3. Motives
4. Choice

5. Guilty As You
6. Conflict Of Priorities
7. Insecurity Makes You Dangerous

Blowhard was one of the better-known Toronto hardcore bands during the 1990s, and the Harsh EP is their only vinyl release aside from a single song on the Fuck The Commonwealth compilation. True enough to the namesake title of the record, Blowhard was one of the harder hitting TOHC bands of their time, playing very politically-charged, crusty hardcore that feels kind of dated twenty years later. Still a cool record though, and an interesting piece of Toronto’s punk history, especially at its going rate, which looks to be about two dollars. Oh and this record was also recorded by Toronto’s ever-prolific record wizard, Brian Taylor of Youth Youth Youth fame.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wzKI_D2bh4

Armed and Hammered - Split w/ Suckerpunch

Year: 1993

Label: Self-Released

Tracks:

Armed and Hammered side:
1. Tragic Story
2. Crad Kilodney Was Innocent
3. Beans On Toast

Suckerpunch side:
4. Witch Doctor
5. Smack

This might be Armed and Hammered’s best release. Three tracks of unrelenting, fast hardcore. Armed and Hammered gets extra points for the ultimate puke punk art of all time, the second song, which sounds exactly like The Adolescents’ “I Hate Children”, and the hilarious ska part of the third song. Suckerpunch was a psychobilly band who I think might have been local. They also did a split with Born Against which makes no sense to me. Cool tunes if you’re one of those dweebs who are into roller derbies and 50’s B movies, I guess.

http://armedandhammered.bandcamp.com/track/tragic-story

Armed and Hammered - Split w/ Oppressed Logic

Year: 1995

Label: Ransom Note

Tracks:

Oppressed Logic side:
1. Reality at 10:00
2. Tension
3. Found In A Ditch

Armed and Hammered side:
4. Rat Poison
5. Movement In The Treeline

More fast, drunken hardcore from Toronto’s best mid-90’s drunk punx. This time on a split 7” with Oakland, California’s Oppressed Logic. Oppressed Logic’s side of this sounds like bad teenage puke punk. Armed and Hammered wins. Hooray for Toronto. Every copy of this record I’ve encountered has been pressed on clear vinyl but apparently there are some on black?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmoDxwKndnA

Armed and Hammered - More Punk Rock Than You

Year: 1996

Label: Subvert & Deny

Tracks:

1. Hate
2. Pills


3. Victims
4. Punk Rock

Armed and Hammered was a band started in 1989 by a bunch of Kensington Market punks who hung out with the BFG posse. Unlike BFG, Armed and Hammered were actually pretty good. The songs are standard fast drunk punk in the vein of a lot of other Canadian bands at the time who drank too much and wrote punk songs. Armed and Hammered is certainly in the upper tier of 90’s Toronto bands though, and was probably the most prolific band of their time, releasing a CD, a 7” EP, and two 7” splits.

http://armedandhammered.bandcamp.com/track/pills

VA - Fuck The Commonwealth: 22 Bands From Ontario And BC That Hate The Queen!

Year: 1994
Label: Fans Of Bad Productions Records

Tracks:

1. Kops For Christ - Xmas
2. Ignatz - Will It Ever End
3. Blundermen - 309 & Beyond
4. Dirty Bird - Swingback
5. Mr. Nobody - Linda's Nightmare
6. Wad - Bad Day
7. Blowhard - Beyond Hope
8. Hockey Teeth - Don't Belong
9. Minnow - Drizzle
10. Whatever - Astra
11. The Queen Haters - I Hate The Bloody Queen

12. Nothing To Lose - Going Nowhere
13. Insult To Injury - Sorehead
14. Benchwarmer - Death Of Punk Rock
15. The Uniks - Sickboy
16. Giblet - Carousel
17. M Blanket - Innyourooms
18. Dunderheads - Deceiver
19. Black Kronstadt - Take Aim
20. Goatboy - No To Elections, Yes To Peoples' War/She Is Not A Fuck
21. Splatterboys - S-Pride
22. Mexican Power Authority - Illiterates/U.F.O./Butcharts Gardens

This 90's comp is probably the best display of 90's Toronto hardcore that exists on vinyl. Sadly, it also showcases the mediocrity of most of the bands. Hockey Teeth's excellent Beyond Hope off of their 7" was a exception for me, but there's not too much here to keep one interested in anything beyond a history lesson. Limited to 500 copies.

VA - Counter Culture International Benefit Comp.

Year: 1999
Label: Coalition Records

Tracks:

1. The Swarm - Guilt Parade
2. End 32 - Lawan
3. End 32 - Demokrasi Mati
3. End 32 - Militer

4. Slang - I Don't Ever Lay Down Arms
5. Slang - [*]
6. DS 13 - Work Buy
7. DS 13 - Another Religion

Late 90's benefit comp with a killer track by The Swarm. Also pressed on white vinyl.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SRDUGogIQQ

Phallocracy - We're Coming To Your Town, We're Going To Party Down

Year: ?
Label: Self-Released

Tracks:

1. Be Young, Have Fun, Bend Over
2. Disrespect Is Everything

3. Still Don't Believe
4. Fur Purse

More goofy hardcore by Phallocracy. I have no idea when this record came out but there are 300 hand-numbered records with hand-drawn labels on white vinyl.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xzjQgqLhb0

Phallocracy - The Vulva Crunch EP

Year: 1994
Label: At Your Servicks

Tracks:

1. Power 30
2. I Saw Elvis And He's A Pig
3. Religion Shouldn't Be This Way Either
4. What Goes Around Comes Back Again
5. Don't Treat Me Bad
6. Outside Looking In
7. One Good Reason

8. Eat My Caviar
9. Gap
10. The Pain
11. Love Is Murder
12. Hair Shirt
13. Suck Me Dry And Call Me Dusty
14. Sermon On The Mount
15. In Between

To Toronto's credit, Phallocracy was technically from Barrie, even though they were associated with the Toronto hardcore scene. This is probably the most shameful record in Toronto's history. I don't mean that in a bad way though. Although this record is totally ridiculous, it's not all that bad, just fast, snotty hardcore with an aesthetic that is similar to what Lookout! Records' stuff in the late 80s and early 90s. Wacky layout too. Purple 10" with a cardboard cutout "sleeve" and some stickers. Serious lols.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DU5ahR200Ks

One Blood - Building A World Of Prosperity With The Efficiency Of The Free Enterprise System

Year: 1992
Label: Gern Blandsten

Tracks:

1. Indian Summer
2. Settler Nations
3. Make The Links
4. Reform Party
5. Safe
6. Can You Feel It?

7. Operation Exodus
8. The Heat Is On
9. Uncle Joe's Revenge
10. Guardian Angel
11. Life Vision
12. Opinion Control In The Democracies

Possibly the longest titled record in Toronto history, One Blood's full length release is regrettably overshadowed by their self-titled EP. Although the politically confrontational nature of the band is still there, the songwriting appears to be an afterthought.

One Blood - S/T

Year: 1990
Label: Lobotomy Exchange Records

Tracks:

1. Not So Mysterious Histories
2. Friends
3. Speedy 'Just Us'
4. Yankee Parasite
5. Decimation

6. Respect
7. Mid 20's Crisis
8. Faith Based On Starvation
9. Purple Stains

 olid political hardcore with a goofy Hendrix spoof at the end and a very dreadlocked Stephe Perry on vocals. One Blood very much exemplifies the aesthetic and sound one associates with 90s hardcore (the 7" features a booklet with essays written on racism by band members), but I think this record is really decent.  I like the idea of the booklet too.

Marilyn's Vitamins - Meanwhile During The Class War

Year: 1999
Label: Ugly Pop Records

Tracks:

1. The Executions Of May 16th 1998
2. It's Good To Be Here

3. Ernst Zundel, Voltaire, And Me
4. I Consume, Therefore I Am

 Political pop punk from the 90's. Very 90's feeling to this record even though it came out as late as '99. Limited to 600 first pressings with yellow labels and 500 second pressings with red labels. I think there's also an alternate cover of this limited to 22.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1geygTWLYg

Legion 666 - Hell At Last

Year: 1999
Label: Ugly Pop Records

1. Abuse In Isolation
2. Tomorrow's Prayer

3. Exhausted
4. Close Your Fucking Book

The first record by this blackened crust band. There's 1000 of these.

 There's an alternate sleeve of the "Full Blast" edition of this record, featuring a picture of Glenn Salter limited to 25 copies. I think Ugly Pop did a lot of these Full Blast editions.

Also, there's a picture of a Japanese bondage nun on the B-side of the record. Wild.

Hockey Teeth - Jesus Saves!

Year: 1994
Label: Homewrekords

Tracks:

1. Not So Long Ago
2. The Final Shock

3. Don't Belong
4. War




Definitely one of the better records from 90's era TOHC. Melodic hardcore that's not for everyone, but I don't think it's too bad. Don't Belong sounds exactly like late Minor Threat and it's really good.

Crisis Of Faith - The American Dream...A Global Nightmare

Year: 1991
Label: Ragamuffin Solider Records

Tracks:

1. Consume
2. Incest
3. Public Assistance

4. Close Your Mouths
5. Struggle For Existence
6. Doctor Of Death
7. Land Of The Free
Crisis Of Faith is better known as "that band that did a split with Chokehold". The tracks on this 7" definitely reflect the heavily political nature of '90s hardcore, with songs opening with samples, and songs reflecting critical views on Israel's treatment of the Palestinian people, the United States, meat eating, amongst other subject material. Crisis Of Faith adopts a faster, more old school sound which I feel doesn't fit the subject matter as well as Chokehold's crushing metallic sound. Still, it's a pretty honest representation of a particular point in time in Toronto's history.

Blundermen - Blunder On Bikini Island 10"

Year: 1993
Label: Regamuffin Solider Records

Tracks:

1. Don't Wanna Hear
2. Wasted Days
3. Atrophy
4. My Train's (Still At The Station Of The Crass)

5. Objector
6. Fears Of Yesterday
7. Greedy Hands Reaching

Pretty decent melodic hardcore from the 90s. This record came out in July, 1993, making it the first TOHC 10" ever. Surprisingly enough, Phallocracy's Vulva Crunch EP was recorded the same year, but didn't come out until three years later.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsYsZTjOqaw